Which quotation correctly uses an ellipses?

Question

Read this quotation carefully.

"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

—“The Gettysburg Address,”

Abraham Lincoln

Which quotation correctly uses an ellipses?

A. “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above. . . .”

B. “The brave men . . . who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to detract.”

C. “The brave men . . . who struggled here. . . .”

D. “The brave men . . . far above our poor power to add or detract.”

Answer 1

Hey again! For this question, Charlie, we have to first understand the purpose of using an ellipses in a sentence. An ellipsis is used mainly to "get to the point" in a sentence quicker, that is, it lets us delete information in the middle of a quote that isn't needed to understand its main idea. Keeping this in mind, think about which answer choices seem immediately ridiculous/misplaced (I'll give you a hint, I see two that can't work). Then, once you've crossed those out, decide which remaining answer choices best "get to the point" of the sentence without either having irrelevant information or leaving out too much information.

Here is an example of using an ellipses correctly in a sentence:

"I cannot help it; reason has nothing to do with it. I love her against all reason."

"I cannot help it...I love her against all reason."

(Example taken from WikiHow)

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